AUSTIN — Regret comes in a multitude of forms, and often all can apply to the same event. Some Texas players reflect on last year's loss to Oklahoma State and tell themselves they could have done just a little bit more.

Longhorns quarterback David Ash looks back and says just the opposite.

“I remember trying to do too much,” he said.

Tonight at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., the No. 12 Longhorns will find out if the past year has taught them the right balance between doing more and doing less.

OSU, the team that beat UT 38-26 in Austin last October, making it clear the Longhorns were still far from finished in their efforts to rebuild, once again stands as a test. This time, the Cowboys loom as UT's toughest opponent of the season to this point, and how the Longhorns fare will speak volumes as to where they're headed over the next few months.

“I want to see our toughness,” UT coach Mack Brown said. “I want to see how good we are nationally. We're going to find out soon.”

Both teams are markedly different than they were when they last met.

OSU (2-1) remains an offensive juggernaut, leading the nation in yards and points per game, but stars such as quarterback Brandon Weeden and wide receiver Justin Blackmon are in the NFL. In their place, the Cowboys will use a freshman at quarterback (either the injured Wes Lunt or mobile backup J.W. Walsh) and a bevy of speedy, but unproven, receivers.

The changes for the Longhorns (3-0) are less about personnel and more about experience. Most of the players who endured last year's loss to the Cowboys remain, but by now they have a much better idea of what to expect from Big 12 play, as well as themselves.

Last October against OSU, Ash completed only 22 of 40 passes and threw two interceptions due to, in his words, “trying to squeeze balls into tiny little windows.” So far in 2012, however, he's completed 76.4 percent of his passes with no interceptions.

In UT's last game at Ole Miss, Ash was 19 of 23 for 326 yards and four touchdowns, and Brown said he proved how he'd handle a daunting environment.

“He didn't blink at all,” Brown said of Ash. “That was one of the big question marks.”

Now, in the Big 12 opener for both teams, Ash and Co. have to prove the questions are gone for good. Until they show they can move the ball consistently, there always will be some doubt about whether UT truly has returned to its first-decade-of-the-century points-scoring heyday.

“It's been a long time around here since people were pleased with what they've seen offensively,” Brown said this week.

But Texas isn't treating it like it's anything out of the ordinary. Even after posting the numbers of one of the country's worst statistical quarterbacks last year, Ash said he doesn't look at his gaudy 2012 stat line with shock or wonder.

“I don't know if I'm surprised or not,” Ash said. “I just think that's what happens when you do your job.”